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Government extends Bragança/Portimão air link

The new concession contract of the air link between Brangaça and Portimão in Portugal is to be extended to four years to give the link more stability, the ministry of planning and infrastructure, Pedro Marques, said on Wednesday.

Marques went to Bragança to announce that the public tender for the new concession is open.

The current three-year concession ends on 22 December and the government is negotiating with the carrier, Sevenair, a direct award to keep the flights running during this transitional period until the completion of the process or the new concession.

Marques explained that the tender was only opened after the government obtained the conditions on the part of the European Commission.

The good news, Marques said, “is that unlike in the past, the tender will open before the end of the concession” and the “negotiations with the current concessionaire” are underway “to make this transitional period until the tender is concluded.”

Bragança has had flights to Lisbon since 1997 but the link was interrupted between 2012 and 2015 by the previous government.

The new contract will guarantee the winning bidder an amount of €10 million during the four years of the grant by the public service.

In the last two years, the occupancy rate of the aircraft with 19 seats has risen to close to 80%, according to the data.